Troubled Waters Entice Thailand’s Charlermchai Mahagitsiri

Troubled Waters Entice Thailand’s Charlermchai Mahagitsiri – forbes.com, April 25, 2012
…A counterargument holds that family-run conglomerates are bad for ­minority investors because they don’t always share the benefits equally with the controlling family. This criticism has been leveled at the Mahagitsiris. In 2005 shares in Thainox were suspended after it announced a $470 million capital-raising plan for a steel plant just two months after its IPO. Investors also queried an expensive land purchase from an unlisted family firm. Chalermchai and his two sisters subsequently stepped down from the board.
TTA’s shareholder revolt pitted CEO Chandchutha Chandratat against a group of investors who demanded seats on the board. Chandratat fought back in public against so-called corporate raiders and played secret recordings of their meetings. The chairman of the ­Securities & Exchange Commission, who had sided with the rebels, was later forced to resign after protests by his own staff…